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B^ACK  TO  THE 
TOWN   MEETING 


Brookline's  Solution  of  the   Problem 
of   Municipal   Government 


BY  ARTHUR  W.  (SPENCER 

Editor  Brookline  Chronicle 


REPRINTED   FROM 

GOVERNMENT  MAGAZINE 

January,    1908 


Volume  II  Number  4 

GOVERNMENT 

BACK   TO   THE   TOWN    MEETING       .  .  .    .  '' 
Brookline*s  Solution  of  the  Problem  of  Municipal  Government 

FOR  the  reason  that  the  town  of  Brookline,  Massachusetts, 
occupies  a  unique  position  in  municipal  affairs,  outsiders 
frequently  show  some  curiosity  regarding  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  solving  the  problem  oi  local  government  that 
is  engrossing  attention  throughout  the  nation  at  this  time. 
Often  the  question  is  askea,  "How  long  will  Brookline, 
with  its  rapid  growth  from  year  to  year,  be  able  to  get  along  with  its 
present  form  of  government?"  To  this  there  are  different  replies 
forthcoming.  The  writer's  answer  would  be,  "Indefinitely,"  but  he 
does  not  wish  to  convey  the  idea  that  he  is  speaking  for  his  fellow 
citizens  or  that  the  subject  is  one  which  has  not  elicited,  and  will  not 
continue  to  arouse,  considerable  debate.  He  is  sure,  however,  that 
most  of  his  fellow  citizens  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  town  form  of 
government  will  be  found  satisfactory  for  many  years  to  come.  They 
will  not  accept  as  truth  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Charies  Francis  Adams, 
whose  knowledge  of  conditions  in  Quincy,  before  that  Massachusetts 
community  became  a  citv,  prompted  him  to  write : 

"Just  in  the  degree  in  which  civic  population  increases  ....  the 
town  meeting  becomes  unwieldy  and  unreliable;  until  at  last  it  has  to 
be  laid  aside  as  something  which  the  community  has  outgrown.  It 
becomes  a  relic,  though  always  an  interesting  one,  of  a  simpler  and 
possibly  better  past.  Moreover,  the  indications  that  the  system  is 
breaking  down  are  always  the  same.  The  meetings  become  numerous, 
noisy,  and  unable  to  dispose  of  business.  Disputed  questions  cannot 
be  decided;  demagogues  obtain  control;  the  more  intelligent  cease  to 
attend."     (Three  Episodes  of  Massachusetts  History,  II,  967.) 

These  observations  applied  to  Quincy  are  not  accurate  in  the  case 
of  BrookUne.  The  opposite  of  neariy  every  statement  would  more 
faithfully  describe  the  actual  conditions.  In  the  degree  in  which 
Brookline's  population  has  increased,  the  town  meeting  might  almost 
be  said  to  have  grown  less  unwieldy.  It  is  not  more  numerous,  but 
has  a  smaller  attendance.  Instead  of  being  noisy,  it  is  marked  by 
quiet,  orderly  procedure,  and  on  the  whole  by  swift  and  expeditious 
methods  of  handling  business.  Demagogism  is  entirely  absent, 
the  proceedings  being  conducted  in  a  dignified  manner,  and  the  more 
intelligent  citizens  exercising  a  predominant  influence  in  the  deUbera- 
tions.     So  that  the  example  of  the  town  of  Brookline,  instead  of  sup- 

iyil7646 


250  GOVERNMENT 

porting  Mr.  Adams's  contention,  affords  the  strongest  possible  proof 
of  the  continued  vitaUty  of  the  town  meeting  amid  conditions  of  popula- 
tion absolutely  the  reverse  of  those  among  which  the  institution  grew  up. 

The  fact  that  Brookline,  with  a  population  larger  than  that  of  half 
the  cities  in  the  United  States,  has  succeeded  thus  far  in  getting  along 
with  the  New  England  town  meeting  without  difficulty,  and  finds  it 
fully  adapted  to  its  present  requirements,  counts  for  a  great  deal.  If 
the  town  meeting  is  entirely  suited  to  a  community  with  a  population 
now  estimated  at  over  twenty-five  thousand  five  hundred,  and  with 
six  times  the  number  of  registered  voters  which  it  is  physically  possible 
to  assemble  in  the  town  hall,  then  it  is  evident  that  an  evolution  in 
the  town  meeting  has  taken  place.  It  has  undergone  an  adaptation 
rendering  it  applicable  not  simply  to  villages  or  townships,  but  to 
the  larger  units  of  municipal  organization.  That  being  the  case,  one 
is  prompted  to  ask  why  this  evolution  cannot  be  continued  still  further, 
so  that  the  town  meeting  can  be  adapted  to  cities  of  almost  any  size. 

The  town  meeting,  as  a  primary  assembly  of  all  the  voters  con- 
vened for  the  transaction  of  municipal  business,  is  of  course  an  impos- 
sibility when  the  population  exceeds  certain  limits,  but  in  such  cases 
the  town  meeting  may  be  retained  in  a  modified  form,  for  the  reason 
that  its  essential  features,  a  voice  and  a  vote  for  every  citizen,  need 
not  be  sacrificed.  The  purpose  of  this  article  is  to  show,  taking  the 
town  of  Brookline  as  an  illustration,  that  these  essential  features  can  be 
retained  under  any  conditions.  Our  large  cities,  instead  of  being  forced 
to  choose  between  the  costly  system  of  government  by  aldermanic 
councils  and  the  less  popular  and  practicable  Des  Moines  or  Galveston 
plan,  can  still  find  a  way  to  avail  themselves  of  the  advantages  of  that 
method  of  direct  popular  government  which  the  settlers  of  New  Eng- 
land established  two  or  three  centuries  ago. 

Until  the  spring  of  1902,  the  town  of  Brookline  in  its  form  of  govern- 
ment did  not  essentially  differ  from  the  typical  New  England  town, 
and  it  now  differs  from  it  in  only  one  important  respect.  The  town 
meeting  held  November  9,  1899,  was  larger  than  the  town  hall  could 
accommodate,  on  account  of  an  exceptional  degree  of  public  interest 
in  a  certain  street-widening  project.  This  experience  showed  the 
serious  danger  of  a  great  number  of  citizens  being  deprived  of  their 
voice  in  local  affairs.  A  committee  of  twenty-five  leading  citizens 
was  therefore  appointed  to  consider  whether  any  changes  in  Brook- 
line's  form  of  government  were  necessary  or  desirable. 

This  committee  considered  the  question  before  it  with  great  care, 
in  November  1900,  and  made  an  able  report.  The  majority  of  the 
members  were  of  the  opinion  that  no  abandonment  of  the  form  of 
government  then  in  force,  in  favor  of  a  representative  form  of  govern- 
ment of  any  kind,  was  necessary  or  expedient.     They  said : 


BACK  TO  THE  TOW^  MEETING  251 

*' Under  the  town  system  every  voter  is  privileged  to  attend  a  town 
meeting,  and  by  voice  and  vote  advocate  or  oppose  any  measure  of 
public  concern  which  has  been  properly  brought  before  the  town  for 
action.  The  town  officials,  while  each  has  certain  prerogatives,  are 
responsible  directly  to  the  town,  and  their  duties  and  responsibilities 
are  cleariy  defined  by  existing  law. 

"Each  voter  is  the  equal  of  nis  neighbor,  and  the  possibilitv  of  undue 
political  or  other  influences  as  affectmg  the  public  welfare  is  avoided. 
We  believe  that  this  system  is  still  workable  and  can  be  maintained 
in  the  town  of  Brookline  for  some  time  to  come." 

If  the  system  was  still  workable  in  1900,  it  is  still  workable  now, 
for  conditions  have  not  perceptibly  changed. 

The  committee  did,  however,  suggest  a  slight  change  which  did 
not  essentially  alter  the  institution  known  as  the  town  meeting  in  any 
way.  They  recommended  the  adoption  of  a  remedial  measure  designed 
to  overcome  the  evil  arising  from  the  place  of  assembly  not  being 
large  enough  to  hold  all  who  might  choose  to  come  to  the  town  meeting. 
This  measure,  which  was  subsequently  passed  by  act  of  the  Legislature 
(St.  1901,  chap.  201,  accepted  by  the  town  March  26,  1901),  provides 
that  any  vote  passed  at  a  town  meeting  to  which  seven  hundred  or 
more  legal  voters  shall  have  been  admitted,  shall  upon  petition  of  one 
hundred  legal  voters  be  submitted  to  the  citizens  for  ratification  at 
the  polls.  This  makes  it  impossible  for  those  specially  interested  in 
the  passage  of  a  vote  from  which  their  section  of  the  town  or  they  them- 
selves as  individuals  might  profit,  to  fill  the  town  hall  to  overflowing 
and  in  that  manner  commit  the  town  to  some  action  which  would 
not  represent  the  attitude  of  the  community  at  large. 

Hence  Brookline  now  has  the  typical  New  England  town  meeting 
with  the  addition  of  a  referendum  feature  which  simply  increases 
the  voting  capacity  of  the  town  meeting  beyond  the  physical  limita- 
tions of  the  assembly  hall.  In  reality,  therefore,  the  town  meeting 
has  been  modified  into  something  larger,  for  it  has  expanded  beyond 
the  size  of  the  town  hall.  While  a  large  proportion  of  citizens  may 
be  deprived  of  the  right  to  express  their  opinions  in  a  deliberative 
body,  they  can  vote  on  all  public  questions,  and  find  themselves  in  a 
much  better  situation  than  previously,  when  there  was  always  the 
risk  of  their  being  disfranchised  by  overcrowding  and  of  the  degrada- 
tion of  the  town  meeting  into  an  undemocratic  and  unrepresentative 
body. 

The  adoption  of  the  referendum  provision  just  described  marks 
a  new  stage  in  the  development  of  the  tow^n  meeting,  nay,  means  more 
than  that,  for  it  signifies  the  initial  step  in  the  adaptation  of  the  town 
meeting  to  large  populations.  The  adoption  of  this  provision,  how- 
ever, has  not  overcome  all  the  dangers  with  which  the  town  of  Brook- 


252  GOVERNMENT 

line  has  found  itself  face  to  face  of  late  years,  and  for  this  reason  some 
Brookline  citizens  think  that  some  form  of  representative  government 
will  have  to  be  resorted  to  before  many  years  nave  passed.  The  suc- 
cess of  the  modification  already  introduced,  however,  may  perhaps 
serve  to  illustrate  the  needlessness  of  radical  measures.  What  has 
already  been  done  suggests  more  to  be  undertaken  in  the  same  direction. 

When  the  referendum  provision  was  adopted  it  was  not  realized 
that  the  danger  of  overcrowding  and  the  resulting  disfranchisement 
was  not  more  real,  though  it  perhaps  seemed  more  formidable,  than 
another  danger.  The  risk  attendant  upon  the  commission  of  weighty 
business  into  the  hands  of  a  small  assemblage  made  up  of  self-appointed 
legislators  was  not  perceived  with  sufficient  clearness  by  tne  com- 
mittee of  twenty-five  in  1900,  except  by  one  member.  Brookline 
town  meetings  are  not  usually  attended  by  more  than  two  hundred 
voters,  and  frequently  by  not  more  than  sixty  or  seventy.  Fears 
which  grow  more  grave  from  year  to  year  are  entertained  with  regard 
to  the  Fate  of  important  measures  at  the  hands  of  such  a  body,  which 
is  as  unlike  the  town  meeting  of  earlier  days  as  a  meeting  could  pos- 
sibly be,  and  cannot  be  supposed  to  give  accurate  expression  to  public 
opinion.  The  rules  of  the  town  meeting  require  the  selectmen  to 
include  in  the  articles  of  the  warrant  whatever  matters  may  be  peti- 
tioned for,  and  misgivings  are  increasing  with  regard  to  the  possible 
insertion  of  trivial  matters  which  may  be  rushed  through  by  an  irre- 
sponsible minority,  inflicting  upon  their  fellow  citizens  the  burden  of 
excessive  expenditures  and  needless  litigation.  For  such  an  abuse 
of  the  privileges  of  citizenship  there  is  absolutely  no  redress.  For 
while  the  referendum  provision  has  remedied  the  abuse  of  power  by 
an  overcrowded  assembly,  it  takes  no  notice  of  votes  passed  at  meetings 
which  are  not  at  all  crowded,  yet  which  are  just  as  certainly  packed 
and  unrepresentative. 

No  doubt  it  is  possible  for  a  board  of  selectmen,  by  personal  influence 
and  wise  advice,  to  do  much  to  dissuade  citizens  from  securing  the 
insertion  in  the  warrant  of  matters  which  ought  not  to  be  presented 
before  the  town  meeting,  but  such  a  board  is  powerless  in  serious 
emergencies.  The  practice  of  referring  some  questions  to  committees 
appointed  by  the  Moderator,  to  be  investigated  and  reported  upon  at 
a  subsequent  town  meeting,  results  in  averting  premature  and  ill- 
considered  action  with  respect  to  matters  that  a  town  meeting  is  not 
fitted  to  grapple  with,  but  it  is  not  always  certain  that  voters  will  con- 
tent themselves  with  that  method  of  disposing  of  the  business  before 
them.  The  only  possible  method  by  which  the  danger  arising  from 
the  few  legislating  tor  the  many  can  at  present  be  completely  overcome, 
is  by  arousing  public  spirit  to  that  point  which  renders  it  impossible 
for  a  town  meeting  to  take  any  action  that  could  not  be  construed  as 


BACK  TO  THE  TOWN   MEETING  25S 

an  expression  of  the  attitude  of  the  community  at  large.  The  applica- 
tion of  this  remedy  presupposes  the  existence  of  a  public  sentiment 
of  unceasing  vigilance,  and  every  one  at  all  familiar  with  conditions  in 
the  town  o?  Brookline  knows  that  its  citizens,  with  the  multifarious 
interests  that  engage  their  attention,  and  with  a  local  administration 
the  very  eflBciency  of  which  tends  to  relieve  them  of  responsibility, 
cannot  be  expected  to  be  more  keenly  watchful  and  alert  with  respect 
to  municipal  affairs  than  would  be  natural  to  other  men  under  similar 
circumstances  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

The  only  way  by  which  serious  evils,  that  every  day  are  more  to 
be  dreaded,  can  be  averted  is  by  a  slight  further  modification  of  Brook- 
line's  form  of  government.  Citizens  must  be  protected  against  that 
kind  of  a  town  meeting  which  in  reality  is  not  a  town  meeting  at  all, 
but  an  irresponsible  or  unscrupulous  minority.  This  protection  is 
to  be  secured  oy  two  means,  through  a  further  application  of  the  referen- 
dum principle,  and  through  an  increase  in  the  power  and  responsibility 
of  the  board  of  selectmen. 

Suppose  a  town  meeting  to  be  held  on  a  stormy  night,  only  twenty- 
five  voters  being  present.  An  appropriation  of  a  large  sum  is  before 
the  meeting,  and  the  selectmen  have  reported  adversely.  If  the  appro- 
priation is  voted  in  the  legal  manner  there  is  no  chance  for  redress. 
Obviously  it  is  just  as  desirable  that  there  should  be  some  way  in 
which  such  a  vote  could  be  referred  to  the  voters  at  large,  as  it  would 
be  had  the  meeting  been  attended  by  seven  hundred  voters  who  filled 
the  hall  and  made  it  impossible  for  hundreds  more  to  gain  entrance. 
Hence  provision  is  needed  for  the  submission  of  votes  regardless  of 
the  attendance. 

This  fact  was  recognized  in  a  minority  report  made  by  one  of  the 
committee  of  twenty-five  in  1900,  and  it  can  readily  be  surmised  that 
a  large  proportion  of  that  committee  would  have  favored  the  extension 
of  the  referendum  provision  to  town  meetings  attended  by  less  than 
seven  hundred  voters,  had  they  not  feared  that  havoc  would  ensue 
in  the  disposition  of  municipal  business,  owing  to  the  impossibility 
of  telling  whether  a  matter  had  been  finally  disposed  of  in  town  meeting 
or  would  have  to  be  reconsidered,  and  owing  to  the  danger  that  the 
referendum  might  be  resorted  to  with  unnecessary  frequency,  for 
reasons  which  would  often  be  of  the  most  nugatory  and  troublesome 
character. 

Certain  restrictions,  however,  can  be  placed  upon  the  use  of  the 
referendum  which  can  prevent  it  from  becoming  a  source  of  mischief. 
Among  the  restrictions  possible  may  be  mentioned,  first,  the  adoption 
of  a  legal  quorum.  For  example,  were  the  town  to  pass  a  by-law 
fixing  one  hundred  as  the  minimum  number  of  voters  whose  acts 
would  not  be  subject  to  review  by  means  of  the  referendum,  the  referen- 


254  GOVERNMENT 

dum  would  be  restricted  in  scope  to  votes  passed  at  town  meetings 
of  exceptionally  small  attendance.  Secondly,  as  was  recommended 
in  the  minority  report  of  the  committee  of  twenty-five,  a  certain  sum 
of  money  might  be  fixed  as  the  maximum  amount  of  any  appropria- 
tion which  might  not  afterward  have  to  be  referred  to  the  voters  at 
large.  The  adoption  of  one  or  both  of  these  restrictions  would  be 
beneficial.  It  is  oelieved,  however,  that  there  is  a  better  way  of  supply- 
ing the  voters  of  the  community  with  the  obvious  advantages  of  the 
referendum,  without  the  likelihood  of  its  being  inflicted  upon  them 
on  uncalled  for  occasions.  The  writer's  plan  is  this — to  provide  that 
every  vote  of  the  town  meeting  which  the  board  of  selectmen  has  not 
itself  recommended,  or  which  it  disapproves,  shall  always,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  without  petition,  be  put  before  the  citizens  at  large  for  ratifi- 
cation or  rejection  at  the  polls,  and  that  no  other  vote  of  a  town  meet- 
ing attended  by  less  than  seven  hundred  voters  shall  be  subject  to 
the  referendum. 

The  board  of  selectmen  is  now  required  by  a  town  by-law  to  report 
in  print  on  the  subject  of  every  appropriation  in  excess  of  one  thousand 
dollars  asked  for  at  a  town  meeting.  No  radical  step  would  be  involved 
in  an  enlargement  of  the  duties  of  the  selectmen  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  oblige  them  to  report  upon  every  proposition  of  every  description 
brought  before  the  town  meeting.  In  Brookline  it  is  not  diflScult  to 
get  a  good  type  of  citizen  to  serve  upon  this  board,  and  the  position 
is  generally  regarded  as  one  of  honor  and  responsibility.  It  is  certain, 
therefore,  that  if  this  board  were  required  to  pass  upon  every  question 
before  it  was  submitted  to  the  town,  it  would  act  in  a  public-spirited 
and  disinterested  manner,  and  if  its  conclusions  were  adopted  by  a 
town  meeting,  it  would  not  matter  how  small  the  attendance  might  be; 
the  votes  of  a  dozen  citizens  at  a  slimly  attended  town  meeting,  were 
they  in  harmony  with  the  selectmen's  recommendations,  would  be 
accepted  by  the  community  at  large,  in  all  save  very  exceptional  and 
rare  cases,  as  a  faithful  expression  of  public  opinion.  And  if  so  small 
a  number  of  voters  made  a  slight  amendment  in  the  vote  which  the 
selectmen  had  recommended  for  passage,  and  that  amendment  were 
afterward  approved  by  the  selectmen,  there  would  be  no  occasion 
for  resorting  to  the  referendum.  The  same  holds  true  with  five  hundred 
citizens  attending  town  meeting  in  a  place,  let  us  say,  ten  times  the 
size  of  Brookline.  If  the  acts  of  sucn  a  gathering  are  in  harmony 
with  the  recommendations  of  an  able  and  disinterested  administra- 
tive board,  it  is  difficult  to  see  what  mistake  can  be  made  in  adopting 
them  as  final. 

On  the  contrary,  when  a  town  meeting  votes  to  reject  a  recom- 
mendation made  bv  its  board  of  selectmen,  entrusted  in  the  manner 
above  indicated  with  the  duty  of  giving  most  careful  consideration 


BACK  TO  THE  TOWN  MEETING  ^55 

to  every  matter  in  advance  of  the  time  for  holding  the  town  meeting, 
or  when  it  makes  an  amendment  to  a  vote  that  is  recommended  and 
that  amendment  is  not  subsequently  approved  by  the  selectmen,  then 
it  is  fitting  that  the  vote  of  the  town  meeting  be  submitted  to  the  voters 
at  large  at  the  polls.  Under  such  circumstances,  the  referendum 
could  not  come  into  play  too  frequentlv  or  for  trivial  causes. 

Under  such  a  system,  it  may  be  observed,  the  voters  at  large  are 
practically  omnipotent,  as  they  ought  to  be.  Their  power  is  not  limited 
by  the  action  eitner  of  the  selectmen  or  of  the  town  meeting,  separately 
considered,  as  the  acts  of  the  town  meeting  are  not  final  without  the 
support  and  agreement  of  the  selectmen,  neither  are  those  of  the  select- 
men final  unless  they  are  approved  by  the  town  meeting.  The  only 
limitation  on  the  powers  of  the  voters  at  large,  if  it  is  to  be  considered 
a  limitation  at  all,  arises  from  the  possibility  of  concurrent  action  of 
the  town  meeting  and  selectmen  in  a  manner  unacceptable  to  the 
electorate.  But  because  both  the  town  meeting  and  the  board  of 
selectmen  provide  so  effectual  a  check  upon  each  other,  it  is  practically 
impossible  for  such  a  situation  ever  to  arise. 

In  this  way,  without  radical  action,  the  town  meeting  can  be  retained 
in  BrookUne  for  an  indefinite  period,  simply  by  the  adoption  of  a  slight 
modification  which  amounts  simply  to  an  expansion  of  the  town  meet- 
ing itself  to  keep  abreast  with  growth  of  population.  The  town  may 
grow  to  be  ten  times  its  present  size,  yet  its  business  can  still  be  tran- 
sacted virtually  as  at  present.  Its  board  of  selectmen  need  not  be 
supplanted  by  other  officers,  but  can  continue  to  exercise  its  present 
functions,  with  the  exception  perhaps  of  those  of  surveyors  of  high- 
ways, which  do  not  belong  to  the  selectmen  proper  and  might  be  placed 
in  the  hands  of  other  oflBcers  to  enable  the  selectmen  to  give  their  whole 
attention  to  matters  of  administration  and  finance.  As  the  town's 
administrative  board,  the  selectmen  can  still  pass  upon  every  question 
before  it  comes  before  the  voters,  and  the  latter  can  still  retain  both 
a  voice  and  a  vote  in  the  town  government.  They  can  go  to  the  town 
hall  to  town  meetings  as  heretofore,  and  the  experience  of  the  town  in 
recent  years  shows  that  only  on  very  extraordinary  occasions  will  an 
enormous  number  of  voters  care  to  avail  themselves  of  that  privilege. 
The  increased  responsibility  of  the  board  of  selectmen,  together  mth 
the  increasing  amount  of  attention  given  by  the  citizens  to  outside 
interests  and  private  concerns  in  a  community  the  parochial  aspects 
of  which  are  fast  disappearing,  will  combine,  probably,  to  make  the 
percentage  of  the  population  attending  town  meeting  grow  smaller 
and  smaller.  But  the  citizens  will  continue  to  exercise  the  privilege 
of  direct  control,  for  every  question  on  which  the  town  meeting  has 
rejected  the  recommendations  of  the  selectmen,  or  on  which  the  select- 
men have  failed  to  concur  with  the  action  of  the  town  meeting,  must 


Z5d  GOVERNMENT 

be  referred  to  the  voters  at  the  polls  within  a  specified  time.  Such  a 
procedure  will  be  automatic,  notice  always  being  given  by  the  selectmen 
within,  say,  ten  days  after  a  town  meeting,  of  their  intention  to  call 
another  town  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  taking  a  vote  by  ballot  on  the 
matters  in  which  they  have  been  unable  to  concur. 

One  objection  to  such  a  plan  might  be  thought  to  be  the  too  frequent 
referring  of  municipal  business  to  the  citizens,  resulting  in  expense, 
annoyance,  and  delay.  This  objection,  however,  is  readily  overcome. 
Not  counting  the  municipal  election  in  the  spring  and  the  State  election 
in  the  autumn,  there  are  as  a  rule  only  three  town  meetings  held  in 
Brookline  each  year.  There  is  the  adjournment  of  the  annual  meet- 
ing, held  late  in  March,  there  is  usually  a  town  meeting  in  May,  and 
there  is  usually  one  at  the  end  of  January.  An  additional  meeting 
has  been  the  exception  in  late  years.  Consequently,  when  we  remem- 
ber that  the  business  of  the  January  meeting  would  naturally  come 
up  at  the  March  election,  were  there  anything  to  be  ballotted  on  then 
under  the  referendum,  there  are  ordinarily  only  two  other  occasions 
on  which  the  citizens  would  be  apt  to  be  called  out;  and  in  actual  prac- 
tice, it  would  probably  be  found,  frequently,  that  the  voters  would  be 
called  out  not  more  than  once  oftener  a  year,  in  addition  to  the  two 
occasions  on  which  they  are  now  summoned  to  the  polls  to  elect  their 
town  and  State  officials. 

Another  objection,  that  the  execution  of  such  a  plan  will  tend,  in 
future,  to  deprive  the  Brookhne  citizen  of  his  right  to  join  in  a  delibera- 
tive assembly,  turns  out  to  be  not  serious.  The  experience  of  recent 
years  shows  that  the  number  of  those  who  care  to  enter  into  debate  in 
town  meeting  is  small,  and  is  made  up  of  much  the  same  persons,  many 
of  whom  hold  some  municipal  office.  The  casual  speaker,  the  man 
who  addresses  the  town  meeting  for  the  first  time  from  the  midst  of 
the  assembly,  the  obscure  citizen  who  suddenly  asserts  his  personality, 
the  prominent  man  who  after  a  silence  of  months,  or  years,  takes  it 
into  his  head  to  talk  to  his  fellow  citizens  on  some  engrossing  question, 
are  not  characteristic  phenomena  of  the  town  meeting,  as  might  be 
supposed.  On  the  contrary,  the  dehberations  engage  the  attention, 
for  the  most  part,  of  men  who  hold  or  have  held  important  local  offices, 
and  feel  justifiably  confident  in  the  value  of  their  suggestions,  on  account 
of  their  familiarity  with  local  affairs  and  detailed  knowledge  of  the 
subjects.  However,  the  doors  of  the  town  hall  are  open  to  all  regis- 
tered voters,  so  that  no  one  is  deprived  of  his  voice  in  the  town  meeting 
who  chooses  to  make  himself  heard,  unless  the  attendance  is  so  large 
that  he  cannot  gain  entrance.  Herein  lies  the  danger,  in  adapting 
the  town  meeting  to  the  wants  of  a  large  population,  namely,  that  those 
who  wish  to  speak  may  possibly  be  unable  to  get  into  a  crowded  assem- 
bly.    But  in  practice  crowding  is  rare;  only  once  in  the  history  of  the 


BACK  TO  THE  TOWN  MEETING  257 

town  of  Brookline  has  the  town  hall  been  packed  to  overflowing,  and 
with  a  population  ten  times  the  present  one  overcrowding  is  apt  to  be 
infrequent.  Loss  of  the  right  to  engage  in  the  functions  of  a  aelibera- 
tive  body  is  offset,  too,  by  the  opportunity  for  a  full  discussion  of  munic- 
ipal matters  in  the  public  prints  and  at  mass  meetings  between  the 
times  set  for  the  town  meeting  and  the  popular  ballot  on  referred 
matters. 

The  tendency  of  the  times,  in  legislative  bodies,  has  been  toward 
the  substitution  of  committee  work  for  open  debate,  and  the  town 
meeting  in  Brookline  has  shown  the  workmg  of  this  tendency.  Fre- 
quently, realizing  its  inability  to  cope  with  a  novel  or  complicated 
problem,  the  town  meeting  refers  a  subject  to  a  special  committee  for 
investigation,  or  postpones  it  to  the  next  annual  meeting,  where  it  will 
come  before  the  Citizens'  Committee.  Such  a  procedure  insures  more 
careful  and  thorough  treatment  at  the  hands  of  more  skilful  men,  and 
has  obvious  advantages  over  the  style  of  debate  which  characterizes 
town  meeting  in  typical  country  towns.  Such  a  procedure  is,  in  fact, 
essential  to  conservatism  and  stabiUty  in  a  place  like  Brookline,  the 
wealth  and  population  of  which  render  any  other  procedure  likely  to 
result  in  disaster.  Consequently,  the  Citizens'  Committee  of  Thirty, 
which  is  appointed  at  the  annual  town  meeting  in  every  March,  and 
is  organized  into  sub-committees  for  detailed  investigation  of  all  expendi- 
tures estimated  for  the  coming  year,  has  become  a  fixed  institution. 
As  the  town  grows,  the  functions  of  this  committee  will  have  to  be 
discharged  not  simply  at  the  March  meeting,  but  during  a  greater  part 
of  the  year.  The  committee  will  either  have  to  be  made  permanent, 
or  its  duties  will  have  to  be  transferred  in  whole  or  in  part  to  a  strength- 
ened administrative  board.  The  strengthening  of  the  board  of  select- 
men, so  as  to  make  its  control  over  every  municipal  department  absolute, 
and  to  constitute  it  an  expert  body  capable  of  dealing  with  the  most 
diflScult  questions,  with  time  and  money  enough  at  its  disposal  to 
make  itself  of  immeasurable  value,  would  help  Brookline  to  meet 
satisfactorily  the  problem  of  a  vastly  increased  population.  It  may 
be  some  time,  however,  before  any  change  of  this  nature  will  be  actually 
required. 

The  foregoing  plan  may  be  accepted  as  that  solution  of  the  problem 
of  municipal  government  which  the  experience  of  Brookline  might 
suggest.  The  plan  is  workable  in  a  place  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  population,  and  is  superior  to  government  by  commission, 
because  citizens  exercise  direct  supervision  over  the  acts  of  the  adminis- 
trative officers  and  enjoy  the  priceless  advantages  of  direct  legislation 
and  the  referendum.  It  is  superior  to  any  plan  for  representative 
government  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  gives  every  voter  his  right  of 
personal  participation  in  the  government.     It  is  economical,  because 


258  GOVERNMENT 

it  retains  all  the  simple  features  of  the  old  New  England  town  in  a  form 
substantially  unaltered.  It  combines  many  of  the  advantages  of 
government  by  commission,  which  has  been  tried  with  apparent  success 
by  several  enterprising  American  cities,  and  of  that  steady,  conserva- 
tive control  that  English  municipal  boards  have  often  exercised,  with 
a  democratic  form  of  government.  Let  no  town  feel  that  it  can  out- 
grow the  town  meeting.  Let  every  city  which  is  perplexed  by  the 
problem  of  improving  its  government  seek  to  utilize  as  much  as  it  can 
of  everything  m  the  town  meeting  that  is  in  any  way  adaptable  to 
its  conditions.  To  return  to  the  town  meeting  will  mean  a  renewal 
of  the  vigor  and  vitality  of  its  institutions. 


P 


N 


^/ .^ — '■« — i7*i=>  /ap\  cra.\        , — ^v. V^=5  i 

cZ ^-^' — ^      "vt — >  \2y  g"^-^        ^ — ^ At:3  ' 

^t "^ — ' \"^ 

'^tTbe  Coneervative  part^'' 

S^  IRalpb  TDQlalbo  Smerson 

TCbe  Conservative  Iparti?  in  tbe  universe  concebes  tbat  tbe 
IRabical  woulb  talh  sufficiently  to  tbe  purpose,  iX  we  were  still  in 
tbe  Garben  of  Eben;  be  legislates  for  man  as  be  ougbt  to  be;  bis 
tbeorie  is  riflbt,  but  be  mahes  no  allowance  for  friction;  anb  tbis 
omission  wahes  bis  wbole  boctrine  false.  Ube  Ibealist  retorts, 
tbat  tbe  Conservative  falls  into  a  far  more  noiious  error  in  tbe 
otber  extreme,  XCbe  Conservative  assumes  sichness  as  a  neces- 
sarie  fact,  anb  bis  social  frame  is  a  bospital,  bis  total  leaislation  \& 
for  tbe  present  bistress,  a  universe  in  slippers  anb  flannels,  witb 
bib  anb  pap  spoon,  swallowing  pills  anb  berb*tea.  Sickness  gets 
organiseb  as  well  as  bealtb,  tbe  vice  as  well  as  tbe  virtue,  flow 
tbat  a  vicious  siestem  of  trabe  bas  eiisteb  so  long,  it  bas  stereo- 
t^peb  itself  in  tbe  buman  generation,  anb  misers  are  born.  Hnb 
now  tbat  sichness  bas  got  sucb  a  footbolb,  leprosie  bas  grown  cun- 
ning, bas  got  into  tbe  ballot-boy;  tbe  lepers  outvote  tbe  clean; 
society  bas  resolveb  itself  into  a  "bospital  Committee,  anb  all  its 
laws  are  quarantine.  If  nrv^  man  resist  anb  set  up  a  foolisb 
bope  be  bas  entertaineb  as  goob  against  tbe  general  bespair, 
society  frowns  on  bim,  sbuts  bim  out  of  all  ber  opportunities, 
ber  granaries,  ber  refectories,  ber  water  anb  breab,  anb  will  serve 
bim  a  sexton's  turn: 

"Hsbes  to  asbes,  bust  to  bust, 
■fcere's  tbe  bole,  anb  in  tbou  must" 


Gaylamount 

PampHle* 

Binder 

Gaytord  Bro»  •  »•«• 

Stockton,  C«m. 

T.„.B„.U.8.P.t.0«. 


f;^17646 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  UBRARY 


.*!i^A-^::;.?«^^ 


